A Message of HOPE on Mother’s Day

Nearly 1,000 women each day die from the consequences of pregnancy and childbirth.

That means that almost every minute of every day another woman dies while bringing a new life into our world and another child is left without a mother.

The statistics are staggering. What is even more heart-wrenching is the fact that most of these deaths are preventable through access to basic health services. Skilled care during childbirth and in the immediate weeks afterward is literally the difference between a mother living and dying…and a child thriving.

These sober facts as we approach Mother’s Day remind us of the essential work that is still needed to give every woman and child a chance to survive and to lead healthy and productive lives. Project HOPE’s commitment to Women’s and Children’s health is unrelenting as we continue to deploy meaningful and impactful programs around the world:

• We train local medical doctors, midwives, nurses and other critical health personnel in safe motherhood practices, prenatal care, delivery and postnatal care, cervical and breast cancer screenings and child survival. HOPE works with community and clinic-based educators to help them establish long-term, permanent health solutions.
• Project HOPE’s child survival programs focus on immunization, integrated management of childhood illness and prevention and treatment of diarrhea and pneumonia. Mothers and health care workers are trained in a broad array of topics that include proper nutrition, the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and such lifesaving knowledge as diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects.
• We focus on strengthening the capability of caregivers and guardians to better care for and support orphans and vulnerable children, to improve the chances of survival and well-being of children under their care; including a program that helps enhance families’ financial resources and ease economic burdens on households. (Read about our work in Namibia)
• Through innovative and collaborative partnerships with private industry, HOPE works to improve the health of young female factory workers, while demonstrating to employers the business benefits of investing in a healthy workforce. On-site health personnel are taught to promote healthy practices, to screen for and treat anemia, and increase access to family planning and quality maternal health services.  (Read a news story about our HealthWorks program in Cambodia)

Please take a moment to browse through the photos on this page and look into the faces of those who directly benefit from your incredible generosity.  It is because of you that we are able to keep alive the unique bond that exists between a mother and child.

 

On behalf of all of us here at Project HOPE, and the countless families you have helped, thank you and Happy Mother’s Day.